An Axe in the Flames

Supplies and Appearances

He smiled at Soren, "Can't yet say that I've had the pleasure. You ever been woke up to the smell of three hundred people's piss and shit running in a small river beside your house?"

Soren seemed surprise by the retort and stopped laughing, "Naw, can't say I ever have. You might have me beat there."

Dray smiled to himself inside, he had won that victory. After that exchange there hadn't been much talking. Dray had watched the rolling green hills as they began to turn brown on the crests from the changing of the seasons. The trees that once covered the Amdeese passes and then had gone sparse through Thanenor and it's wore country roads, were beginning to again line the cart path. Small bushes, at first, with red and yellow flowers and humming with giant honey bees. Then they began to grow into thickets and bramble bushes with their purple and orange leaves. This was the less country part of Thanenor, the part that signified that coming into the province of Emerald was not far away. Where Amdeese was almost nothing but great forest lands and massive wild animals, Thanenor was rolling country hills and wide open spaces where you could see for miles on end. One of the footmen had worked his way in front of the cart and held a hand up for Soren to slow the cart.

"Looks like a tree fell, perhaps from an earlier storm. It's not fully in the way, so the cart should be able to go to the left of it." The soldier yelled back as he kicked at the dead wood with a black leather boot.

Dray glanced over at Soren, "Do you know your left from right?"

Soren didn't answer, he was fingering his great gout of nostril hair and twirling a booger around his pinky finger. Dray fought down the urge to drive heave, he wouldn't give this man that kind of reaction. It's what he wanted anyways. The soldier up front was muscular and tall, easily enough for Soren to see over the oxen as he steered them his way. His face was broad and covered with a full black beard, and under his green leather cap a flow of black hair hung to his shoulders. 

"Good eye, solider. What's your name?" Dray questioned as they headed towards him.

"Aye, Servant Guardian. The name is Keller. I fought in the Battle of Mist, when the Emerald Army overthrew the pagan tribes that held what we call home now." His voice was powerful and firm.

"Did you now? A Front Line Fighter?"

"Aye, Servant Guardian. Directly beside the Battle Priests you protect."

Dray smiled warmly as they pulled alongside where he stood, "Well, then you were a skilled fighter because here you stand today. Those tribes were not so barbarian and unorganized were they?"

"No, Servant Guardian. This had been their stronghold for years and they knew the lands well and how to use them to their advantage."

Soren rolled his eyes as they passed by Keller, "Those pagan tribes didn't do nuffin but keep to themselves and you's run them off their own damn land like a bunch of goodie goodies."

Keller and Dray snapped their attention to Soren, whose sneer was clearly visible across his worn face.

"Soren, those pagan tribes murdered Thanish, Amdeese druids and the like for rituals to their blood God. They enslaved the inhabitants of the Feral Wilds to do their hunting, farming, cleaning, butt wiping and everything in-between." Dray said sternly as he turned to Soren.

The cart was well to the left side of the path now as it passed the fallen tree. Keller watching intently as it cleared the debris. Suddenly, there was a jolt as a wheel had caught itself on the fallen tree. The third cart in the succession had come to a grinding halt. Keller stepped to the side to survey the damage.

"It's only caught in front, let us see if we can pull the tree the rest of the way out of the road."

Dray nodded as he watched Keller direct the other three soldiers. The trees around them had created almost a canopy above, their yellowing leaves swaying back and forth in the soft but brisk breeze. He watched the foliage above and amazed at the colors, red and yellow interspersed with light green and dying browns. Nature was such a beautiful thing if you took the time to really sit back and enjoy it. He looked down as he adjusted his feet in the riders seat. Boy, he really needed to clip his toe nails. He chuckled to himself, amused by his random thoughts and as he looked up he saw Soren staring contemptibly at him. This man was becoming more brash as the day drug on.